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RESOLUTION No

RESOLUTION No.27-CP OF MARCH 28, 1997 ON APPLYING AND DEVELOPING AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY IN SERVICE OF NATIONAL INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MODERNIZATION

Automation technology is a collection of advanced methods and techniques which are to be used for creating automatically operated equipment, equipment systems and production processes to replace or reduce manual human labor and, at the same time, increase labor productivity, product quality and production efficiency of different forms of human work.

Today, automation is penetrating and fast developing in all aspects of social life, playing a big role in promoting production, raising the competitiveness of products and stimulating economic growth.

This Resolution is to outline the situation of application and development of automation technology in our country, reaffirm the viewpoints and goals and work out the approaches and measures for accelerating the application and development of automation technology in the course of national industrialization and modernization.

I. THE APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS OF AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY IN VIETNAM

1. Our industry was formed and developed on the basis of a backward agricultural economy and has undergone years of war. Although it has over the past years been given much investment and renewal and has recently shown visible changes, it remains in general underdeveloped, with outdated technologies and handicraft and small-scale mechanical engineering accounting for a high percentage in many economic fields, and with only a number of production processes semi-automated or automated at a low level. Therefore, it has failed to meet with the need of the country�s socio-economic development.

2. With a view to creating changes in industrial production, the Government decided to set up in 1990 a State Steering Committee on Automation. In 1994, the Vietnam Association of Automation Technology was set up to rally and tap potentials of the contingent of scientific-technological managers and experts in the field of automation technology. In the past years, research and development on automation technology have received attention and development investment. The scientific-technological research programs and the State-level trial scientific-technological projects on automation of the 1986-1990, 1991-1995 and 1996-2000 periods were undertaken and yielded initial results in applying research results to production. However, the efficiency of these applications are in general low and betraying many limitations.

3. The training of personnel in automation has had changes in both content and mode which have been adjusted and supplemented in accordance with technical advances and the need of personnel skills. However, the material and technical basis of the research institutions and for training personnel in automation technology remains poor and incompatible. The coordination between training and research institutions and production establishments has not been well heeded to help raise the quality of personnel training. The contingent of personnel and experts in automation technology remains too small and weak to meet practical requirements.

4. Recently, apart from the formation of industrial estates and joint ventures with foreign countries which employ modern automation technology in production, the application of new technologies and the renovation and improvement of technological processes at production units and enterprises have seen new steps of development. Yet, these practices remain local and spontaneous and still contain many problems, ranging from the importation to mastery of technologies, giving rise to the need to have a uniform State management and control.

In sum, although our industry has received attentive investment for modernizing technology and conducting research and development of advanced automation technologies, progress has been slow. The slow progress in the development and renewal of the application of automation technology is a cause behind the slow improvement of productivity and product quality in many economic branches and is posing a great challenge to the need of socio-economic development in our country.

5. The implementation of the targets of the strategy for national industrialization and modernization in the ucoming years is posing urgent needs for the organization and realization of the program for application and development of automation technology. The rapid development and renewal of automation technology in countries of the region and the world is providing us with convenient conditions for learning and applying promptly new achievements of modern and advanced automation technology. The latent potentials of the contingent of technical personnel, after being rallied and reorganized and given appropriate policies and investment from the State, will become an important resource for promoting the automation of production processes.

The above-described situation dictates that our country has to develop a separate strategy which will through a national program for development and application of automation technology contribute to taking out country rapidly out of the danger of falling behind economically toward integration into the fast-growing regional and world community.

II. THE APPROACHES, OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS OF THE APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY TO THE YEAR 2020

1. The approaches in application and development of automation:

a) The development of automation in our country must move in both directions at the same time: To absorb and apply foreign advanced automation technologies and to raise the inherent scientific and technological capacity to study, upgrade and create technologies. In the immediate future, absorbing and applying technologies are the main direction.

b) To combine appropriately the renewal of technology (including partial renewal and modernization) with the utilization of existing technologies with a view to raising the efficiency of investment and tapping all inherent potentials for production development.

c) To make use of all conditions to apply on a selective basis modern automation technologies which are suitable for each industry, each production area and each stage of development. To take initiative in technology transfer and study to master imported technologies and apply them efficiently and, at the same time, to create the basis for advanced studies of them.

d) To apply automation technologies to production areas and socio-economic activities in phases and with investment concentrated on selected areas of industrial production with a view to raising the competitiveness of products on the market so as to increase export, and on key industries for infrastructure construction.

e) The contents of the technological research work must be directly based on the practical needs of the production and on the basis of a close relation among Research, Training and Production.

2. The objectives of application and development of automation technology:

a) The short-term objectives to the year 2000:

- To select, absorb, expertise, master and utilize efficiently foreign advanced automation technologies which have been transferred into Vietnam.

- To operate and utilize efficiently the existing equipment and processes of automation technology of production branches and, at the same time, carry out renovation, upgrading or modernization of technologies through applying automation technologies or upgrading automation standard.

- To concentrate investment on renovating technologies and equipment along the line of applying advanced automation technology and equipment to a number of key industrial production and branches such as energy, oil and gas, machine building, construction materials, transport, metallurgy and processing of agricultural, forest and marine produce.

- To rally and build the contingent of personnel and experts in automation technology and step by step raise the research and development capacity of this contingent to enable it to handle the new tasks and higher requirements of the following stages. To form and put into operation designing and manufacturing establishments which employ modern (CAD and CAM) technologies.

- To build strategic orientations, policies and master plans for the development of automation technology in Vietnam to the years 2010 and 2020.

b) Long-term objectives:

By the year 2010, our country�s automation technology shall have reached the standard of the developed countries in the region. In the field of industrial production, technologies shall have been basically overhauled and automated at a high level. Technologies in a number of fields shall have reached the advanced level of the region and the world, contributing an important part to making ours basically an industrialized country by the year 2020.

3. The contents of application and development of automation technology:

The program for application and development of automation technology to the year 2020 is divided into phases so as to suit the national socio-economic development program: 1996-2000; 2000-2010 and 2010-2020. The implementation of each phase is prescribed in detailed plans and adjusted through each phase with a view to achieving the set targets, and is composed of the following main contents:

a) Developing and applying automation technology to serving socio-economic development.

Based on the chosen targets of the branch�s development strategy and the prioritized fields, to design projects for development and application of automation technology with particular focuses for each implementation period.

On the basis of the development plans and requirements for production, the plans for technological improvement, upgrading or renovation of production units and enterprises of the various Ministries, branches and localities, to formulate programs which comprise research and development projects of scientific research institutions and technological consultants and projects for foreign technology transfer.

To apply new technologies to improve, upgrade or renovate the existing technological processes of economic branches along the line of upgrading the level of automation and automating manual and backward production chains.

b) The research of automation science and technology

- To step up consultancy on, and expertising of, technology transfer and conduct researches on capabilities for applying automation technology of other countries in the world so as to select advanced and suitable technologies for each of Vietnam�s production branch.

- To study and master imported advanced technologies so as to renovate, adjust and suit them to the country�s conditions and production requirements, make efficient use of them and raise the capacity in management, operation and maintenance of technological processes.

- To study to create new technologies, design and manufacture processes of automation technology of high level, approaching the world�s modern technological standard.

c) The training and building of potentials for development of automation technology

A decisive factor for the success of the program, guaranteeing the realization of the above-said tasks of scientific research and application, is the competence of the corps of scientific and technical workers. Therefore, it is necessary to take concrete measures to increase the quantity and quality of training for personnel training establishments and raise the research capability of research institutions on automation technology.

III. THE MAIN APPROACHES AND MEASURES TO ACCELERATE APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY

1. To work out plans for application and development of automation technology on a national scale:

On the basis of the plans for application and development of automation technology of the Ministries, branches and localities, the agency for steering the implementation of the program shall design the national master plan for each year and each period and, on the basis of this plan, design detailed projects for application and development.

2. To build the potentials for scientific-technological research:

- To strengthen the system of research and development agencies in the field of automation at the various Ministries, the National Center for Natural Sciences and Technologies, at enterprises, and at laboratories and research centers of universities. To strengthen the coordination among these agencies to formulate a network of scientific and technological activities and training capable of carrying out the functions of technological research and development, consultancy and expertising.

- To increase investment in the technical bases and renovate research facilities of scientific research institutions. To concentrate on building a number of key national institutions and laboratories of automation; to establish a number of establishments for production and research and development of automation technology in high-tech parks.

3. To strengthen research and development work

- To design and effect appropriate managerial mechanism and policies with a view to stimulating and linking scientific research and training work at research institutions and universities with production and business units.

- To strengthen the transfer and application of foreign advanced technologies. To encourage foreign investors to introduce modern automation technology into Vietnam.

- To coordinate, utilize and inherit the activities and results of the scientific research programs, projects and subjects of all levels undertaken by research institutions and universities so as to save resources and raise the efficiency of investment.

4. Organization and training of personnel:

To strengthen the system of personnel training institutions and beef up the supply of laboratory facilities for training. To renovate, supplement and perfect training programs and curricula with a view to upgrading the personnel standard. To design the plans for training and employment of experts and specialists in automation discipline. To encourage all forms of training at home and abroad.

5. To promote international cooperation

- The State encourages and supports international cooperation in scientific research and personnel training and study and in the transfer of automation technology into Vietnam.

- To create favorable conditions in terms of law, finance, banking and infrastructure so as to attract foreign investors to invest in transferring modern automation technology into Vietnam.

6. Capital support and mobilization

- The State shall give priority to investment from its budgetary sources and from international assistance programs and contributions by enterprises of different economic sectors in the training of scientific research personnel and the building of the material bases of training and research institutions in the field of automation.

- The State shall provide investment support from its budgetary sources and foreign investment for realizing the most essential contents of the research and development projects. It shall also design and effect appropriate financial policies in terms of tax, credit, etc., to encourage, support or force enterprises to invest in technological renewal and application of modern and advanced technologies.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

The Government shall formulate the National Techno-Economic Program on application and development of automation technology and assign responsibilities to the various Ministries, branches and localities in implementing this Program as follows:

- The Ministry of Industry is to be in charge and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Ministry of Finance and other concerned Ministries, branches and localities to design the National Techno-Economic Program on automation and organize and steer the implementation of the Program.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment is to be in charge and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry to evaluate, manage, control and appraise the implementation of the Program and configure the budget proposal for the implementation of the tasks of the Program in the annual budget plan.

- The Ministry of Finance is to allocate budget for the Ministries, branches and localities which take part in the implementation of the tasks of the Program already approved by the Prime Minister, coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and the other concerned agencies in designing and effecting policies on finance with a view to encouraging the application and development of automation technology.

- The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment is to compile regulations and policies so as to create favorable conditions for the implementation of the Program.

- The Research Institutes of the Ministries, branches, universities and the National Center for Natural Sciences and Technologies are to increase coordination among themselves and with enterprises and production units in their scientific research, training and development and application of automation technology.

- The Ministries, branches and local People�s Committees shall design their master plans and five-year and annual plans and, through the Steering Committee, integrate them into the national plan. They shall periodically report to the Steering Committee on the situation of their implementation of the plans. On that basis, the Steering Committee shall summarize the situation and report it to the Prime Minister.

- The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level Agencies, the Heads of the Agencies attached to the Government and the Presidents of Deputy Prime Minister the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government are responsible for the implementation of this Resolution.

On behalf of the Government

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

PHAN VAN KHAI